


Veneficus Verum

by Sunset Days (DreamyRequiem)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Tales of the Abyss
Genre: Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Drabble Series, Gen, rewrite of a thing on FNN with the same name
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-02
Updated: 2018-05-01
Packaged: 2018-07-19 13:35:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7363330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DreamyRequiem/pseuds/Sunset%20Days
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Many years ago, a group of heroes rose. They met and found their goal by chance. They reached that goal through skill, determination, and perseverance. The chains that bound us were torn down...</p><p>but at what cost?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. PT 1; Dreams of Trains

**Author's Note:**

> Unbeta`d.  
> This is a rewrite of something I wrote yeaaaars ago and while I still wanted to play with the idea, I decided I needed to rewrite it from scratch instead of continuing to write it as I was. So here we are!

_Many years ago, a group of heroes rose. They met and found their goal by chance. They reached that goal through skill, determination, and perseverance. The chains that bound us were torn down..._

_But at what cost?_

* * *

Harry James Potter did not like his dreams. How odd was that? Because what eleven year old child didn't enjoy dreaming? But when those dreams were filled with blood, screams, and poisoned air, it was easy to understand why he wouldn't.

The dreams of green light were a haven of a respite from the dreams of crimson blood.

Unfortunately, this night was not a respite. Harry jolted upright out of bed, his heart racing. Once more he had fallen down into poison among the ruins of a city.

Harry half expected to reach up and have his hand hit the bottom of the stairs but that was not the case. He shook his head. He still wasn't used to sleeping in the second bedroom, even if it had been almost a month since the whole debacle with his birthday and Hogwarts letter.

In only days he'd been packing up his things into his Uncle Vernon's car and be heading to Hogwarts. For almost a whole year he'll be free from the Dursleys. Maybe he'll finally be able to find out why he had those dreams.

It had to do with magic, right? No one else his age at school ever had dreams like him (as far he was aware). They were all non-magical...so it must be something to do with magic.

Either way, Harry needed a drink of water.

Slipping out of bed, he tip-toed out of the bedroom and down the stairs. Harry was careful to avoid the squeaky step. He didn't want to wake the Dursleys.

He turned the cold water on and filled up a cup of water. Turning, he leaned against the kitchen counter as he sipped from the cup.

The Dursley house was somewhat unnerving during the night. No matter how many times Harry had snuck through the house during the night, it never changed. The ominous feeling of being watched was always on him.

Harry paused.

He was likely being paranoid...but what if that was magic too? Harry didn't know anything about magic. For all he knew everyone who was magic had that feeling at night.

Maybe he should look in his textbooks for an answer...it wasn't like he was going to be able to sleep tonight.

Filling his cup back up, Harry retreated to the bedroom, intent on researching anything he could on dreams and magic.

* * *

**According to scholars of old, dream magic was highly specialized. Many of the users would try to scry for the future through it while others were content with reliving moments from the past.**

**There are many theories on why knowledge of dream magic was lost. The most popular is that the two groups, one that scried for the future and the one who relived the past, came to blows and all practitioners were killed.**

**Far more likely is that dream magic at the time was outlawed for being too dangerous to teach young witches and wizards. This could result in very few people being interested in it when they came of age and thus it died out from lack of knowledgeable user.**

**In this day and age, the Department of Mysteries in the Ministry of Magic are researching dream magic. How they are doing it or why is currently unknown.**

_**~Excerpt from 'A History of Magic' by Bathilda Bagshot, Chapter 1: Ancient Magics** _

* * *

This was not okay.

The Dursleys had left, the platform for Hogwarts was nowhere to be found, and he was pretty sure the attendants thought he was crazy. The other people in the station probably also thought he was crazy but that was neither here nor there.

He tapped his fingers against the cart, feeling hopeless. Hedwig hooted at him, her big eyes watching him. It seemed liek she was begging him to be let out.

Harry shook his head.

A sad hoot came from the snowy owl, her claws clicking as she shifted on the stand.

Before he got a chance to scold Hedwig (they were getting enough look without her looking like he plucked her feathers) a woman's voice cut through the din. Harry's head snapped up at the mention of muggle. That could only mean...The woman must be a witch!

For a brief moment he wondered if he wanted to approach a complete stranger and then realized he'd already done that. Granted, those strangers had been attendants but he had done it anyway.

He shuffled his feet before pushing the cart forward. "Excuse me...?" Harry leaned back as the entire family turned to look at him, save for the oldest boy, who had already vanished into the stone barrier. Three pairs of brown eyes and two blue bored into him. 

The woman broke the tension. "Yes, dear? Is there something I can help you with?" Harry tore his gaze from the younger members of the family to survey the woman. Her clothes were patched but not in the 'I'm so poor I can't buy new clothes' way but more in a quaint stylish way. Her red hair would stand out in a crowd--if that crowd didn't have equally red hair.

It just so happened, that the rest of the family also had red hair like hers.

"Ah, well..." Harry stuttered as he thought about how to answer the woman's question. "I was wondering if you might know how to onto platform nine and three quarters?" He tugged at his too-large shirt, worried. Maybe he was wrong?

Her smile eased his worried away. "Ah, so you're a first year? It's Ron's first year too." Harry's eyes flicked to the shortest of the three boys. 'Ron' was the lanky one and the only one of the boys to have blue eyes. The woman spoke again, drawing Harry's attention. "Fred, would you show him how to go through?"

"Mum, I'm George."

"Alright, George, will you show him how to get through?"

"Just kidding, I am Fred!"

The woman gave Fred a sharp look and he waved his hands in front of him as if to protect himself. Without another word, he saluted Harry and ran into the barrier. Like the older brother, he vanished from sight. George copied Fred's salute and followed Fred through the barrier.

Harry looked up at the woman. She smiled back. "And that is how it's done."

Glancing at the last two kids, he nodded and said, "Okay. Thank you." Harry gripped the handles of his trolley before kicking forward. He ran and ran, his eyes closed, waiting to hit the barrier. But he didn't. Instead he almost ran into a family of four on the other side of the barrier.

Apologizing rapidly, Harry turned his gaze to the platform. The people, the sights, the smells...he lost himself in the grandeur of the new world.


	2. PT 1; New Friends and Bossy Companions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unbeta`d  
> idk if I made this clear, but the first part for this series is going to be drabble-ish because not too much changes in the first year of HP.  
> Section about Wingdarium Leviosa is mostly from the HP Wikia.

_The cost was high._

_At first, it seemed like the cost would be nothing at all. Yes, we lost our artes, at least at first, and we lost our precious Score. But we did not lose our lives. Except when we did._

_It began with the attack on Engeve._

* * *

Harry's first week at Hogwarts was filled with ups and downs. Most of the classes were nice. None of the professors made too much of a fuss over him after the first day and the oldest students had stopped staring at him as he walked past.

The younger students stared at him like they had nothing better to do. And 'none of the professors' didn't covered Severus Snape. His 'fuss' was to mock and belittle every action Harry made. It didn't matter if he did great with his potions or if he followed every instruction to the letter: Severus Snape hated Harry Potter.

His slytherins also hated Harry, though the older students didn't bother getting involved. It was all the younger students: thirds years, second years, first years. He desperately wished to know why the professor hated him.

(Later in life he'd wonder why Snape had been subtly encouraging the hatred between the houses. But that was later.)

His first weekend at Hogwarts was note worthy for three reasons: The first was being invited to Hagrid's hut out on the grounds while the second was making a new friend. The third and final reason had been how he had made his new friends.

The day had been started out the same as every day before it had. Harry and his dorm mates got up and went to breakfast. Afterwards everyone went out to do different activities. Harry and Ron had both decided to head out ot the grounds so that when they went to Hagrid's it would be less of a walk. Besides, the lake had looked rather nice and the day was warm.

On the way down to the lake shore, three familiar slytherins appeared. Where they had come from, Harry hadn't seen and neither had Ron. The first thing out of Malfoy's mouth was: "So, Potter, it looks like you're off to join your family in the lake?" The blond prat was sneering as he said it.

"Well, the Great Squid is a better sight than your ugly mug," Harry said with a snap. He paused, wondering where that had come from. Harry wasn't that confrontational normally.

Malfoy glowered. For someone in Slytherin he wasn't very quick with quips.

Fuming, Malfoy finally said, "At least I don't need gills to see my parents!"

"I'm shocked you'd even want to see your parents, considering they're as clever as a pair of snails," A somewhat trembling voice said. Everyone stopped and glanced at the newcomer.

It was Neville Longbottom.

The other boy's hands were shaking faintly and it was clear to Harry that Neville was at the very least nervous. At worst Neville was scared but either way Harry wasn't going to say anything.

Malfoy scoffed. He and his 'friends' heel turned and headed back up to the castle. Once their green trimmed robes disappeared from sight, Ron turned his attention onto Neville. "Merlin, I didn't expect you to say something like that!"

Neville went scarlet. Harry shook his head at Ron before turning and smiling at Neville. "Ron didn't mean that in a bad way. Thank you, Neville. I didn't think Malfoy would leave that easily." Ron laughed wryly at the mention at the mention of him not meaning it in a bad way.

Harry waved at Neville to come closer. "What're you doing out down here anyway, Neville?"

The boy flushed. "A-ah, it's a nice day out. I wanted to see the lake..." Hm, Harry thought that was odd but that had been both his and Ron's reason for coming out here so what room did he have to talk?

"We did too," Ron said with a nod. "Do you want to come with us?" Strength in numbers, Harry thought as he sent Neville an encouragining smile.

The other first yeat gryffindor smiled back. It was clear he was still beyond nervous but from what Harry had heard he shouldn't be surprised. Neville apparently didn't have many friends from before Hogwarts, like Harry himself.

The trio spent the early morning together by the lake, Neville slowly relaxing. By the time the afternoon came around Neville was more relaxed than Harry had ever seen him in the past week and the other boy was cemented as his and Ron's new friend.

As such, they invited him to go with them to see Hagrid.

Neville accepted.

* * *

**The Levitation Charm is one of the first spells learnt by any young witch or wizard. With the charm a witch or wizard can make things fly with the flick of a wand. The charm is an excellent test of your magical skills, wand control and above all, patience.**

**The Levitation Charm was invented in 1544 by warlock Jarleth Hobart who mistakenly believed that he had at last succeeded in doing what wizardkind had so far failed to do, and learnt to fly.**

**He eventually realised that he had invented a spell that would lift objects into the air and could cause them to hover for varying lengths of time, depending on their weight, and the skill of the spellcaster.**

**This charm ought not to be seen as a joke spell. It can be most useful in duels and can lift physical obstacles and can even Levitate small creatures (though this is likely to confuse any poor animal and is certainly not to be encouraged).**

**The casting movement is a flick and swish, to imitate a feather floating. Feathers, incidentally, are the best way to practice his charm, especially for young spellcasters.**

**_~Excerpt from the Charms Chapter of the ‘Standard Books of Spells’ by Miranda Goshawk_ **

* * *

Ron was grumbling. "Why does she have to be so bossy?" He asked Harry. 'She' was Hermione Granger and the older girl had managed to embarrass Ron while practicing the levitation charm, Wingardium Leviosa.

They had been learning the charm in class earlier that day and Ron had been having troubles prounocing the spells right. Hermione had corrected him before showing him hwo to do it herself. Ron had of course felt embarrassed over the whole thing because he still hadn't been able to do it before class ended.

After class, Neville had ran off on his own, telling Harry and Ron that he had to finish this Potions essay that was giving him a hard time. They'd offered to help but he'd rejected it. It'd been a month since the three of them had become friends but Neville still stiffened up on  occasion.

Harry really wished he knew of some way to help Neville relax more.

That said, he probably should be replying to Ron's angry grumbles. "She is a tad bossy. But she's not as bad as some of the Ravenclaws." Some of which seemed to turn their nose up at them whenver they saw the two of them mess up a new spell.

Ron seemed to perk up and nodded in agreement. "Yeah, the Ravenclaws are worse than she is. I'd take her over one of them any day."

What neither of them see is a certain bushy haired girl sitting on a nearby bench. They don't notice how she wilts like a dying flower when Ron accuses her of being bossy or how she perks up when they decide that the ravenclaws are far more bossy than her.

They also don't notice the ravenclaw boy or his sharp scathing remark about her actions until Hermione is shoving past them, crying. Harry stared at her back, startled.

"Oh, Merlin, did I--?" Ron stopped, watching Hermione disappear into the crowd of people.

"No," a female voice snarled to his right. Harry jerked around to see the speaker: Lavender Brown, who looked furious. "It was that Ravenclaw! Hey! You, yeah you!" She paused and looked at Harry and Ron. "Don't bother Granger. Sometimes girls just have to have a good cry." And then she's off after a ravenclaw boy.

(Meanwhile, Parvati Patil has followed Hermione--because even she does need a good cry, people still need to know where she is.)

Ron let out a deep sigh. "Girls are mad, Harry," He said, decisive.

Harry can't help let out a short sharp laugh. He could hardly argue with that.


	3. PT1; Frosty Halloween

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unbeta`d  
> Blood/violence warning

_The monsters had swarmed Engeve. Homes were torn apart and fields of grains were ripped up by terrifying claws. Children screamed and adults cried. All the while the monsters feasted on what they considered their new hunting grounds._

_Only three survived, having ran from the very start of the attack. They had ran for days and days over hills and rivers before they reached St. Binah. The citizens took them in and armed their walls. They refused to fall as Engeve had._

_While they armed themselves, a messenger was sent to carry the message of Engeve's destruction to Grand Chokmah._

* * *

The Halloween feast was amazing.

Floating pumpkins drifting over the tables and treats of all kinds were displayed. Candied applies next to sugar quills and ice mice wriggled in their clear packages. Cockroach clusters mocked the younger kids, who looked on in bewilderment at them. There was no sign of any muggle candy, but with the delicious set up you'd think anyone would be happy about it right?

Well, that would be wrong. Harry, Ron, and Neville were mildly worried about Hermione, though they didn't want to voice those worries. If they did, they each knew they wouldn't stop.

It didn't help that Parvati had returned alone, only to tell them that Hermione had wanted time alone. While it seemed like Ron had wanted to accept that ("When people say they want to be alone, then it usually means the opposite!") Harry and Neville managed to convince him to stay in the Great Hall with them.

Of course they spent the first ten minutes ignoring their worries by trying to eat their own weight in candy. 'Trying' being the keyword because as soon as the properly settled down to enjoy the candy someone opened the doors of the Great Hall, the bang echoing as they hit the wall.

It was Professor Quirrel.

He was out of breath and stuttered several times as he stumbled forward before he finally managed to cry out. "Troll!! Troll...in the Dungeons!" There was silence for a long moment as everyone took in his words--and then an outbreak of screams and yells. Harry's hand fell onto Ron's wrist as the two exchanged startled looks. On the other side of the table, Neville was standing up with the other students.

And then Dumbledore yelled for attention, his voice booming with magical might over the chaotic din. Almost everyone went still as their attention fell on the headmaster.

"Prefects, escort the students in your houses back to your common rooms!" His robes swept away as he stepped closer to the other professors, clearly getting the teachers gathered for getting to the troll--and probably to escort the kids of Slytherin to their common room.

Harry touched Ron's elbow. "We need to go." Ron nodded distractedly and they followed Neville's example in standing up. The few people still sitting at the tables where hustled to their feet and the crowds of people began to make their way to their separate common rooms.

* * *

As they headed up towards the common room, Harry saw Parvati and Lavender pass them, murmuring worriedly. He heard a name--'Hermione'.

He stopped.

"Ron, Neville....Hermione is still in the bathroom isn't she?" His two friends exchanged looks that just confirmed Harry's fear: No one had seen Hermione return to the other students during the feast. And her bushy brown hair was nowhere in sight among the crowds of students.

Ron sighed. "We're going to go find her, aren't we?" Harry quirked at smile at Ron before nodding with a murmur of 'yes'. His two friends sighed but followed after him as they snuck away from the other Gryffindors and the prefects.

Here's to hoping Percy didn't notice them leave.

They went through several passage ways as they argued where Hermione could be: Was she in the third floor bathroom? Fourth? They eventually went to the third and found themselves with the opportunity to trap the troll.

Of course they took it. But...

Harry didn't like the sound of what was ahead of them. Quirrel had said the troll was in the dungeons but the sounds ahead of them was most definitely a troll. And this was also most definitely not the dungeons. How had the troll slipped past the teachers up to the higher floors?

While capturing the troll by locking it in a room was a good idea ala Ron and Neville, it seemed that it was not the greatest idea.

That thought was mostly because of the scream that just came from the room they'd locked the troll in.

"That was Hermione." Ron's voice was quiet but serious. His blue eyes were wide with fear and Harry couldn't blame him. They'd just locked a vicious troll in with a 12 year old girl that, while bossy, had done nothing to them to deserve that.

(Never mind the fact that, again, she was 12.)

Neville was already unlocking the door again when Ron and Harry turned to him. "All or nothing?" Ron tried, forcing a smile. The other two boys forced smiles back at Ron.

And then they're storming the bathroom, each throwing out whatever spells they can. They're all harmless ones, save for the cutting spell they'd only just learned the week before. It doesn't do a thing to the troll, to Harry's despair.

How were they supposed to kill it?

He supposed at least the troll was paying complete attention to Hermione anymore. Maybe she could escape the could try to lock it in again. Though the chances of it working twice are...very unlikely.

Swallowing his despair at that, he fired off a fer more spells even as he feels a strange tingling in his fingers and toes. It's so close to the way his magic feels that he doesn't notice at first--not until the tingling became a burning feeling and demanded to be freed from him, to wedge itself in the troll.

(It's such a strange feeling, he knew. Harry wasn't sure he could ever really explain how it felt to someone who had never felt it like he had.)

Just as Harry realized this, the room became ice cold. Frost coated the edges of his robe and the troll gave an unearthly shriek. Harry looked up just in time to see a sea of crimson splatter the floor of the bathroom.

All Harry could think of was that time Dudley had run over one of Mrs. Figgs' cats.

Hermione stumbled past him and wrenched on the ground as Harry stared blankly at the spear of ice jutting right through the troll's chest. He didn't notice someone tugging on his hand and dragging him away nor does he notice that someone was sobbing to his left.

(Later, he'll learn that the one sobbing was Hermione. Ron had helped her keep her hair out of her face as she vomited because well. Seeing something die like that was not good for anyone, let alone a group of twelve and eleven year old kids. But they can't tell anyone that they saw it: To tell would mean to reveal Neville's secret, the one that had scared him even more than the troll.)

(They'd rather deal with the trauma than losing Neville.)

* * *

No one had noticed that they'd disappeared.

In fact, due to the chaos of the Gryffindor common room, everyone simply assumed that the kids had gone off to the dorms to get some quiet before coming back. The four, blood sticking to their heels and socks, did not try to change their minds on this.

Harry felt bad about going along with the lie, but after that...Harry didn't want to talk about what had happened. Neither did the others, until Neville whispered to them. "Don't tell anyone. Please." His voice trembled for a moment and Harry realized he had never heard Neville that afraid before.

"I don't understand." Hermione murmured. "I...I know that troll was killed...and that we would get in trouble for getting ourselves in that situation..."

Hermione's bossiness had been lost, replace by baffled confusion and no small amount of fear. Harry couldn't blame her.

Neville shook his head. He didn't say anything more.

Ron, however, did.

"That was a fonic arte. Fonic artes...that type of magic is illegal." Ron paused. "They'd...they'd send Neville to jail if they found out..."

Hermione swallowed. "But. He's a child. Like us."

The two purebloods shook their heads and said no more. Harry exchanged a look with Hermione and they fell silent. They decided they didn't want to know, not right now.

As the Gryffindor common room got louder and louder, the quartet of first years became quieter and quieter, until only silence rung in thier ears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I haven't updated much and that this chapter is rather....lackluster. I've had such a hard time writing it and well. When I finally finished it I tinkered with it a lot to make it look better to me? But I never could get it the way I wanted so here we are.


	4. PT1; Chilly Rumors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow I actually updated. I have some reasons for the lateness of this at the end of the chapter.

_By the time the messenger finally reached Grand Chokmah, three more towns had fallen to the ravaging monsters. Hundreds of thousands dead at the hands of the frenzied packs yet no one knew why. It was as if someone had done something to the world itself, to shift the balances of the world into chaos._

_Some blamed the Planet Storm, despite the fact that the Heroes had deconstructed the storm years earlier. At the same time, people who could use artes reappeared randomly among the populace._

_No one realized these people were refugees from the destroyed towns._

* * *

Dumbledore made an announcement the following day. The announcement was short but serious: "The Troll was killed on the third floor. If anyone has any information as who did so, please give it to your heads of house."

Harry bit the inside of his cheek. He was surprised that Dumbledore hadn't mentioned the Fonic Artes and wondered why not. Was it because the headmaster didn't want to worry the students? Or was there another reason for not mentioning it?

The thought made Harry worry--but his worry about the announcement faded in the face of Neville. The other gryffindor was pale as snow, as if he was about to vomit. Hermione, who had also looked to Neville, cleared her throat and told Percy that 'they needed to get ready for class now!' And then she pulled Neville away from the table and all but frog marched him (with Ron's help) back to the tower.

With a deep sigh, Harry skittered after, almost stumbling over the tangle of robes around him. Everyone was whispering about the announcement but he, Hermione, Ron, and Neville were hardly the only ones to leave the Great Hall: A handful of prefects and other first and second years had also gotten up to leave. He wondered if it had something to do with the announcement or--well, the less paranoid conclusion was that they were finished with breakfast.

When he finally caught up to the other three, it was to hear Hermione's hushed reassurances and Ron rubbing Neville's back in practiced sibling fashion. Huh. Harry sometimes forgot Ron was an older sibling. It was easy to forget, as most of the time they only saw Ron interacting with his older brothers and sometimes those interactions weren't happy ones.

...Come to think of it, Ron was older than both him and Neville wasn't he?  
Shaking his head, Harry jogged up to Neville's side and briefly touched his shoulder: "Neville, it'll be fine. You only used it to help us--that's not bad. If you hadn't we could've--you know." Neville stared at him, surprised. "You saved all of us. You did a good job."

Harry didn't know what to make of the teary sob and hug from the other boy.

* * *

**Fonic Artes is an ancient form of magic that is in current day society considered barbaric and Dark for good reason. It is often used by Dark Lords to subject enemies--often in public executions. Due to this, the Ministry of Magic made the branch Illegal to preform or learn as to prevent people from learning and using it.**

**Unfortunately despite the attempts to stop use of the Fonic Artes, Grindelwald rekindled use of Fonic Artes during his attempt to create a society where Wizards are ruling over the Muggle Societies.**

**He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named followed in Grindelwald's footsteps and used many Fonic Artes on his enemies. It is noted the James Potter was one of those who were killed through fonic artes.**

**_~Excerpt from 'A History of Magic'by Bathilda Bagshot, Revision 5, Chapter 14: Recent History_ **

* * *

It only took a week for a rumor about Fonic Artes being used to circulate in the castle. No one knew where the rumor started--though some said they heard the prefects talking about it at some point. Harry himself only heard the rumor after Quidditch practice.

Not only did it ruin his mostly good mood--but it also made him want to be sick. If he felt like this bad he can only imagine how Neville felt.

Of course, he only found out how Neville was when he met up with him in history. That is to say, he felt fine. Harry breath an internal sigh of relief: He knew Neville would find out about the rumor eventually, but he felt it'd be better if he could tell Neville about it himself.

Harry met Hermione's gaze and--she knew. She must've heard the rumor from her bunkmates. Lavender and Parvati certainly loved their gossip and it was unfortunate that Hermione had to deal with that all on her own.

He mouthed 'later' to her before the quartet moved into the history classroom. Binns floated into the room at a snail's pace, as per usual and the droning lecture began. Harry almost fell asleep but jolted awake at a thought: he needed to talk to Hermione. The two of them needed to figure out what to tell Neville about the fonic artes rumors before Neville got wind of it.

Unfortunately, that was not going to happen. Not because he can't talk to Hermione, but because another first year, a slytherin named Feng Cheng, raised his hand and coolly waited for Binns to notice him.

It took ten minutes, but it happened, right as Harry gathered his courage to get Hermione's attention.

"Yes, mister....Zhen?"

Cheng raised an eyebrow at the muck up. "Professor, I've been hearing a rumor recently and I was wondering...Were fonic artes used on that Troll last week?"

Harry choked--and both Ron and Neville jolted awake at the mention of fonic artes. Hermione's hands were clenched on her desk as she frowned at Cheng. Harry could hardly blame her. Why would you openly ask a question like that?  
Binns blinked at Cheng before he said, "I'm afraid I do not recall any trolls in the castle recently...?"

Of course he didn't.

Ron rolled his eyes to his friends before saying very quietly to Neville; "See it's nothing." Harry wasn't so sure.

"Then, can you tell us why fonic artes are so bad?"  Cheng drawled. "None of the books properly explain why. It just talks about how dark lords use artes a lot and end up killing more people because they're unprepared for them."

Uh, what? The class stared at Cheng. Binns seemed even more confused. "Mr. Zhen, it's illegal due to it's violent nature. You can only harm others using it."

Why was he asking questions like this? Harry glanced over his shoulder to look at Cheng. The look on the slytherin's face made him paused: He looked...disdainful of Binns' explanation. It made perfect sense to Harry. They had seen what Fonic Artes could do. What could Cheng possibly know that they didn't?

Either way, Cheng shrugged. "If you say so Professor. I just think it's a little strange that say, seventh years can look at dark magic but fonic artes are a no no...." Binns had stopped listening by the time the slytherin had said 'Professor'  
Of course he had. The ghost professor had the attention span of a gnat. Harry pulled his gaze away from the other first year to look at Hermione. They shared despairing looks behind Neville's back.

Neville himself looked as pale as snow. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay okay, first off: I'm sorry if this doesn't seem like a good chapter? I haven't actually finished a chapter of anything in months so i'm partially just happy to get this out. I'm really sorry I haven't updated sooner. I had this grand plan that would let me update all the way to the next chapter--the christmas chapter--on actual christmas. Last year. but then irl came up ad hit me int he face like a truck and then the stress of work killed me and. man oh man, it just. made thing hard for me.
> 
> I'm hoping now that i've written a chapter, writing updates for other stories will come easier for me! so yes, i'm very sorry for the unintended hiatus: I'm back now and i'm going to try to update all my big stories.


	5. PT 1; Christmas Days

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> unbeta`d

_The mysteries continued and the people of Auldarant despaired: Who was going to help them now? The heroes who had once saved the world were scattered, each struggling with their own duties. Some tried to learn the truth all on their own. Others claimed that the destruction of the Score led them to this fate._

_Even now it's unknown what had caused the anger of the monsters or the resurgence of artes--but what is known is this: This is the first instant of magic, all because someone wanted to repair their broken front door._

* * *

Eventually, the roar over the fonic artes and trolls ended. Harry wished they had ended earlier because wow was Neville anxious. Others attributed it to being scared of whoever had cast the arte, Harry and his friends all knew the truth: Neville was scared of someone realizing it was him who had cast the artes.

Harry still thought that if they were going to find out it was Neville they would've done so by now. He supposed he was just grateful that none of the portraits had seen that it was Neville.

As the roar declined, the winter rolled in, snow storms and winds hugging the towers and ramparts of the castle. Hermione let the boys know, before the deadline came, that she would be heading home for Christmas. Neville and Ron on the other hand were both staying in Hogwarts.

Ron, because his parents and younger sister had gone off to Romania to visit one of his older brothers. Neville, who admitted that he was going to head home during Christmas except he changed his mind. Either because of his anxiety over the artes or...well, Harry knew that Neville's extended family wasn't all that great. Not so different from Harry himself, actually.

Either way, the three of them would be staying in Hogwarts together--and well, Harry wondered what Christmas would be like. He'd never celebrated it away from the Dursleys and those celebrations had never been all that great, in all honesty. Here's hoping the Hogwarts Celebrations with be even a little bit better.

So far, his general experiences had been better in Hogwarts than with the Dursleys, even with the Halloween Troll incident.

He wondered what that meant regarding the Dursleys.

The three of them went to Mcgonagall together to let her know that they'd be staying in Hogwarts for the duration of the holidays and she nodded to them. When the time came for the students to leave, Harry and the other saw Hermione off with a wave and yelling goodbyes. She just laughed at them and waved back.

Harry remembered, then, that they had a mission. Hagrid had mentioned Nicholas Flamel and that the man was connected to the package they had taken from Gringotts earlier that year. Hagrid got pretty upset about tell them though...He probably wasn't supposed to. Secrets and all that.

Not that that was going to stop them, as they had been searching the library for any sign of the man all November and December. They still hadn't found anything on him when Christmas break had come and all they could really do was wait for Hermione to come back.

She'd always know the library better than them.

Except Christmas came and to Harry's surprise, he got presents, from friends and someone he didn't know. The former was an invisibility cloak, though he didn't realize that until he took it out and gave both of his friends heart attacks.

"What?" Harry jumped as both his friends choked at him. "What's wrong?!"

Ron stared bug eyed at something Harry couldn't see. "Uh, Harry? You're...kind of a floating head right now."

"Floating Head Harry." Neville muttered.

He looked down and saw nothing at all. That was...uncomfortable at best because he could feel the rest of his body but he can't see this body. How weird and actually confusing. Harry isn't sure how he should feel about this.

In the end, they figured if they couldn't find Flamel in the rest of the library...there was still the restricted section. With the invisibility cloak, they'd be able to get in and hopefully find something on Flamel. Anything at all would be nice.

* * *

**The Mirror of Erised is an ancient mirror said to have been given to an ancient wizard by a young artificer. The story goes that she wished to show the man that for all his money and possessions he still didn't have his deepest desire. It was to teach a lesson yet the wizard never learned that lesson because he never unwrapped the gift. After all, he had as many mirrors as he could want already.**

**The mirror is supposed enchanted with magic that looks into one's heart. No one is sure how the enchantments work or how to replicate them and unfortunately it is impossible to replicate due to them being buried under protection spell after protection spell. Breaking them would only damage the spells beneath them.**

**Its current owners are unknown and the mirror continues to be shrouded in mystery. One day, should the current owners come forward, we ay begin to carefully unravel the protection spells to see what the enchantment is built off of. Until that day, we must content ourselves with the old story of the artificer and the wizard.**

**_~Except from The Ancient Magic Artifacts Handbook, by Harrison Umbra, Revision 6, Chapter 8: Fairytale Artifacts_ **

* * *

Harry hovered uncertainly near the door they'd found. Ron and Neville were both pressed close to him on either side, each of them visibly shaken from their run from the caretaker. Filch probably would've killed them if he had caught them and honestly, Harry wasn't suicidal.

Finding a room where they could take the cloak off and not be worried for their safety. So Harry slipped into the room and pulled the cloak off. Ron and Neville both slumped to the floor as he locked the door. They were catching his breath as Harry slid down against the door with his own deep sigh.

"Are you two okay?" Harry asked from his place in front of the door.

Ron gave a weak shrug. "I've been better--We got away from Flich anyway, so. I guess I'm fine. I'm almost had a--what, a heart attack I think?"

Haaa, the fact that the wizarding society had no term for heart attacks was weird and he had no idea why they didn't. They should, shouldn't they? Either way, Harry patted Ron's hand from where he sat. "Well, you didn't so you'll be fine, just like you said."

His red haired friend just sighed at him and leaned back on his hands. Harry smiled a bit. Either way, they were going to have to find a way back to the tower without behind spotted--which was easier said than done.

"Neville, you okay and ready to go? We should get back soon..." Harry turned to Neville and realized that Neville had moved further into the room. He stood up, frowning at whatever had drawn Neville's attention. "Neville?"

Neville twitched and looked up from the mirror he stared into. "I...Uh, sorry, Harry, what did you say? I missed it."

Harry squinted at the mirror. He could only see the two of them and Ron in the reflection from here... "I was asking if you were okay," He said, "We ran pretty far."

The other gryffindor hesitated and shook his head. "I, uh. Yeah I'm fine. We should probably head back to the tower, huh, before we get caught?"

That's what I said earlier, too, Harry thought. But he sighed and nodded and pulled the cloak up over his shoulders. Ron got up and ducked under the cloak with Neville. Together, with Harry occasionally glancing in concern at Neville, they headed back up the Gryffindor Tower.

Neville's behavior continued over the next week to be concerning. Harry watched him disappear every night and return a couple hours later, sad and happy at once, for all that sounded like it was an oxymoron.

After the 7th day, Neville approached Harry and asked to borrow the invisibility cloak. Harry frowned in thought: He was worried about the other boy's behavior and thought that giving him access to the invisibility cloak was probably a bad idea.

Nodding to himself, Harry said, "I'll let you borrow as long as you let me come with you." Neville hesitated at Harry's request before agreeing and returning to the herbology book he'd gotten the last time they'd gone to the library during the day.

That night, Neville shook him awake and Harry peered up at him. He didn't like the almost desperately light in the other boy's eyes but he got out of bed, trailing after Neville as they head down to the common room. Harry explained that they'd put the cloak on once they got out of the tower--and Neville agreed.

Neville led him to a secret passage not too far from the Fat Lady and Harry swung the cloak over their shoulders. As they moved to Neville's destination, Harry frowned because he knew these halls. These were the halls that led to that mirror they had seen, hidden in a side room.

What was it about that mirror that interested Neville?

It only took a few minutes for them to cross the rest of the halls to the room. Once they were there, Neville slipped out from under the cloak and headed over to the mirror. Harry watched him go with trepidation because what if the mirror was, like, cursed? And was slowly draining Neville's life?

They wouldn't possibly keep something like that in a school right? Yet that thought did nothing for Harry's paranoia and worry. He followed after Neville and stopped just short of his heels. "Neville...I don't know about this. I think--I think you shouldn't keep doing this."

Neville didn't respond, staring at his reflection. Harry stared at his back when he hear a third voice--An older man's, the Headmaster's. "Mr. Longbottom, I do think you need to listen to your friend, Mr. Potter." Harry spun around, his eyes wide at the sight of Professor Dumbledore standing behind them, looking at Neville sadly.

Harry saw an aborted motion from Neville from the corner of his eye. He stiffen as Professor Dumbledor continued speaking, stepping forward. "Mr. Longbottom. I know not what you see in the mirror--what your heart's true desire is. However, I do know this: You'll lose too much of yout life, if you stand in front of this mirror. It cannot grant you your heart's desire."

The 11 year old's shoulders shook. Harry swallowed because something wss wrong--and then Neville spoke, his voice a careful blank. "How can you understand? I--I see my family and everyone around me is happy and proud and why can't I keep watching this world?"

"Because it isn't real, Mr. Longbottom." Professor swept past Harry and laying a hand on his shoulder. He leaned over and murmured to Harry. "Mr. Potter, I will escort young Mr. Longbottom to the Gryffindor Tower later: Please go back to bed." And then the Headmaster continued over to Neville.

Harry turned to watch for a moment before he threw the cloak over his shoulders and left the room, heading back to the Tower. He hoped Neville wouldn't get in trouble but--well, Harry would wait for the other shoe to drop, for them both to get in trouble. Until then, Harry would try to get a good sleep.

The next day Neville was sleeping soundly in his bed. Harry watched him carefully as the days passed and the bags under his friend's red eyes disappeared. Alright, it seemed Professor Dumbledore had said something to the other boy to stop him from going to the mirror.

He just hoped Neville would stick to whatever Professor Dumbledore said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> posting this kinda late on my end so i'm afraid anything i'd usually say here is...right gone out of my head. well, besides the fact that I really don't like this chapter but I've rewritten it a few times now so. not every chapter can be a favorite.


	6. PT 1; stones and dragons

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> unbeta`d

_The Heroes that saved them all reunited in the face of this new threat. How could they not, when their own people were vanishing before their eyes or dying out in the streets? They sought the source of the chaos and destruction, traveling across the lands to the dust and sands of the far west continent._

_They entered the deserts and were never seen again._

* * *

Hermione's return from the winter break was a relief for the three boys. For Ron, it cleared the oddly awkward air between Harry and Neville and for the latter duo it meant they could focus on something else than their strange little misadventure over the break. Meanwhile, Hermione was eager to know if they had found anything about Flamel.

When their answer was a resounding 'No', she got frustrated with them. It was not as if they could just ask a teacher--they'd want to know why. They explained this to her and she waved them off, disappearing into the library every day for a couple weeks.

And then she slammed a thick book on their table.

It startled them all and Harry was almost sure he was startled right out of his skin. What the heck was this about? "Hermione," He said slowly, "Why did you drop that here?"

She rolled her eyes at him. "Harry, this is the book we've been looking for. The book with what we need on Nicholas Flamel."

Neville waved a hand, frowning. "Um, what do you mean what we need on Nicholas Flamel?" That was an odd question--they all knew they needed to learn about what he had done with his life but there wasn't a desperate need for it. Not like it was a school project.

Hermione puffed out her cheeks. "You know what I mean; it’s what we wanted to know." She started flicking through the massive book. "I can't believe that I didn't notice Flamel was in here sooner."

They waited for her to find what she was seeking because they had quickly learned better than to interrupt her. Last time one of them had spoken up while she was researching, Hermione had given them a stare of pure unadulterated fury.

She gasped and they knew she'd found what she was looking for. "Nicholas Flamel is well-known for his work on alchemy and the creation of the Philosopher's Stone--which can turn any metal to gold and crate an elixir of eternal life." Hermione ran her fingers down the words of the page and then let out a deep sigh. "Who would want to go after the stone, if that's here, though?"

"First bets on Voldemort." Harry grumbled as Ron and Neville winced.

Hermione rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to retort when Oliver Wood suddenly appeared around the book shelves. He skidded to a stop next to Harry and laid his hands on his shoulders. "Harry, there you are! We need to go to the pitch, it's time for practice!"

Harry coughed as Oliver shook him. "Wait, we're having practice today?" He jolted as Oliver eventually heaved him up to his feet. "Oliver, I can walk..."

"Don't fly into anything!" Ron called after them, Harry rolling his eyes towards the ceiling at Ron's cheery warning. His friends were great, don't get him wrong, but sometimes he can't believe them.

* * *

**In all my years of study, I cannot find the source of where artes are originally from. For all intents and purposes, it seems as if arte may predate even our knowledge of magic.**

**How can this be? For all our knowledge, it seems as if magic had always been with humans. Aren't artes the dark perversion of magic? But the further I go back, to ancient texts and tomes, the more I discover the opposite. Mentions of some great cataclysm that changed the face of the world and all that resides within.**

**Mentions of perhaps the beginning of magic as we know it cropping up during and after, as if in response to that great cataclysm.**

**The more I learn, the more I believe that magic was born of that cataclysm and artes had existed long before that. That artes were no longer enough to protect people. But then, that brings up the other important factor that had been lost.**

**Artes are not just destruction.**

**_~Excerpt from one of Nicholas Flamel's arte research journals_ **

* * *

"Wait, Flamel did research on artes?" Harry shot Hermione a surprised look.

She nodded, leaning back in the chair in Hagrid's hut. Said man was back by the fire, stoking it--or something within it--and poi tingly ignoring them. "Yes he did, but it seems most of the research is off limits to practically everyone." Hermione puffed. "I doubt there's anything anymore dangerous in that research than in anything else but...Who knows. The magical society can sometimes be so...so illogical!"

Hermione puffed even louder and Ron leaned forward. "So what happened after practice? You were pretty tense earlier."

Making a face, Harry said, "Snape was confronting Quirrel about...something. I dunno what it was, though. I think it had something to do with you know what but..." He'd only picked up on half of the conversation, from how far away he'd been.

Ron leaned on the table as Neville curled back from the mention of Snape. "W-why would Snape want anything to do with that stone...?" Neville asked. Snape was one of the few people who could make Neville truly nervous, which always left the rest of them bemused.

"What're you four talking about?" Hagrid asked, very seriously, interrupting them. "It’s not about Flamel, is it?"

Harry shook his head. "Uh, no! We were talking about practice--The next match is next weekend." And it wasn't entirely untrue. They had talked about his practice--which was how they had gotten on the subject of Snape and Quirrel. And there was going to be a match next weekend.

Hagrid frowned at them as Ron peered around him into the fireplace. "Hagrid, is that a _dragon egg?_ "

Somehow that derailed the conversation away from Quirrel and Snape, as apparently it was a dragon egg. How Hagrid got his hands on one they had no idea but all four of them were both interested and wary of the egg. Ron pointed out to them, later, that it was kinda illegal to have a dragon egg off of a reserve.

Which was worrying because now that meant Hagrid had to have talked to some wizarding black-market guy to get it! The four of them put aside the stone situation to try and figure out a way to get Hagrid take the egg to a reserve, so he didn't get in trouble with the literal law.

It was easier said than done as over the next week they discovered that Hagrid had already gotten attached to it. So when the time came for it to hatch, the night after Harry's Quidditch Match, they all quietly panicked. How were they going to get a baby dragon to a reserve?? An egg was hard enough; A baby dragon would be worse.

They still went to see it because honestly when were they ever going to see a dragon hatching? All the way there, they bounced ideas on how to convince Hagrid to give up the dragon.

(None of them noticed Malfoy follow them out--and even if they did they wouldn't have suspected anything bad of it. For all that he was a slytherin, Malfoy hadn't done anything to them for a long while. They thought he had finally learned his lesson.

They were wrong.)

The dragon hatched and the quartet eyeballed it and how Hagrid fussed over it. "We're doomed." Ron declared to his friends. Except, they weren't just yet. Neville remembered that Ron's brother, Charlie, worked on a dragon reserve. Ron had lit up and sent a letter to his brother.

It was a week before they got a reply--and it was after Neville got bit by the thing. His hand had swollen by the time Ron took the letter from the school owl and they were trying to construct a story on how Neville got hurt.

"Herbology." Neville eventually suggested. There were plants that could do the sort of damage that had been done and Neville quickly found a plant that would work. He went to the hospital wing as the rest of the group tried to figure out what to do from there.

The trio decided to talk with Hagrid. Using the rapidly growth of the dragon--Norbert--and Neville's injury, they managed to convince Hagrid to let them take the dragon to Charlie. Or his friends that were coming by to pick Norbert up for them to take the dragon to Charlie.

Three days later, the trio gathered up the cloak and the cage for Norbert. Harry covered them up as Hagrid tearfully goodbye to the dragon and they trekked back up to the school.

(All the night, the teachers were on high alert. Malfoy had told them that someone was sneaking something into the castle--a dragon, of all things. McGonagall couldn't believe it but what choice did she have if she was wrong?)

Charlie's friends were nice people, Harry told the others as they left the tower they had met them on. They had teased Ron a bit when they had realized he was Charlie's brother but had eventually chained up Norbert's cage between their brooms. Harry still wasn't sure how they had managed to cover themselves so that they blended in with the night sky.

On the way down, Ron noticed that they had left the cloak behind and hurried away to pick it up. "Be careful!" Hermione hissed after him, worried he might be caught while he was away from them.

She should've been more worried about them being caught.


End file.
